Improvement in boot and shoe forming machines



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. H. WALKER & J.M0INTYRE. Boot and Shoe Forming Machine.

No. 220,775. Patented Oct. 21, I879.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2' J. .H. WALKER & J. MOINTYRE. Boot and Shoe FormingMachine.

No. 220,775. Patented Oct. 21,1879.

31?}.5 .Fg'G. 6. Egg. 7 71 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH H. WALKER AND JOHN MCINTYRE, OF-WOROESTER, MASSACHU- SETTS; SAIDMGINTYRE ASSIGNOR TO SAID WALKER.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOT AND SHOE FORMING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 220,775. dated October21, 1879 application filed June 28, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOSEPH H. WALKER and JOHN MGIN'IYRE, both of thecity and county of Worcester, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot and Shoe Springingor Forming Machines; and we do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure 1 represents a front view of one of our aforesaid improvedboot and shoe springing or forming machines. Fig. 2 represents a partside View and part vertical section of the machine, the latter beingtaken on line A B, Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by arrow 1of the same figure. Fig. 2 also represents a boot as it appears beforeand after being operated upon by the machine, as will be hereinaftermore fully explained. Fig. 3 represents, upon an enlarged scale, acentral vertical section through the machine, taken on line C D, Fig. 1,looking in the direction indicated by arrow 1 of the same figure. Fig. 4represents, also upon an enlarged scale, a horizontal section through aportion of the machine, taken on line E F, Fig. 1; and Figs. 5, 6, and 7represent, upon a still larger scale, side views of different sizes ofdetachable heelblocks such as are employed upon the swinging boot andshoe support of the machine, as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed.

To enable those skilled in the art to which our invention belongs tomake and use the same, we will proceed to describe it more in detail.

In the drawings, G G represent the upright side-supporting frames of themachine, and H, I, and J the cross supports or beams upon which themachine is arranged and secured.

Upon the central cross-beam, I, is secured, in any suitable andpermanent manner, the stationary part K, being framed into saidcrossbeam I in this instance, as represented in Fig. 4 of the drawings.The front side of said stationary piece K is cut out in dovetailed form,to receive the sliding part or carriage L, upon which is secured theupper half, M, of the springer or former M of the machine.

To secure sliding part or carriage L in its proper relative position instationary part K, the ends a of the slot in said stationary part K aremade beveling or in dovetailed shape, as before stated, and theouter'edges of sliding part L beveled to fit upon said beveled surfaces,as fully represented in Fig. 4. of the drawings.

To avoid any undue friction of sliding part or carriage L uponstationary part K, the former is cut out upon the back side, asrepresented at b, Fig. 4, leaving only a small bearing or frictionsurface at each side of said sliding part L to bear upon stationary partK.

The upper half, M, of the boot and shoe springing or forming block M,which is secured to a projecting flange, L, formed or secured on slidingpart L, is so shaped upon its under side that when applied to the bottomor sole of a boot or shoe, when the latter is placed between it and thetop of the lower half, S, of the forming-block, which is correspondinglyshaped upon said upper side, the sole wil1 be sprung or bent into theproper form to fit the bottom of the foot, as will be hereinafter morefully described.

Sliding carriage L is operated or moved up and down in the slot formedin stationary part K, in this instance by means of a crank andtoggle-joint device constructed and operating in the following manner:Upon sliding carriage L is formed a projection, 67, to the sides ofwhich are secured plates 0 e, which project above said projection d, soas to form ears or flanges e 6. Between said flanges e e is hinged, upona pin, f, passed through the former, the lower end of a link-piece, N.Another link-piece, O, is also hinged or suspended upon a socket-piece,g, secured to the under side of cross-beam H, while the lower end ofsaid link-piece O and the upper end of linkpiece N are hinged togetherat the point h to the slotted end i of connecting-arm P, while the otherend of arm P is hinged to the crank Q of shaft It, which is supportedand turns in suitable bearings secured to the side framepieces G G.

Thus it will be seen that by the rotation of driving-shaft R its crank Qforces forward and draws back link pieces N and 0, thereby raising andlowering sliding carriage L and the parts connected thereto, forpressing the under curved side of the upper half, M, of the springing orforming block M down upon the bottom or sole of the boot or shoe placedunder it, as fully indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 2, of the drawings.

Upon the lower cross-piece, J, is secured the lower half, S, ofspringing or forming block M, which is V-shaped, and is provided with aV-shaped slot, S, for the reception of the vamp of the boot or shoe whenplaced upon block S to be operated upon.

Slot S not only converges to a point upon the sides from the front ofthe block to near its rear end, but also slopes slightly upward fromfront to rear of the block.

Gross-piece J is supported upon blocks G G, which are secured to sidestandards or frames G G, and may be adjusted up or down by Varying thethickness of blocks uit, placed undereach end of said cross-piece uponthe tops of supportin g-blocks G G. Said blocks 10 u in this instanceare composed of rubber, for the purpose of allowing cross-piece J andits block S to give slightly when pressed upon by block M, thuspreventing breakage of those parts or other parts of the machine.

Cross-piece J is held in position by means of pins as .r, secured in thesame, which pass down through blocks 20 u and into supporting-blocks GG, fitting loosely in the latter, and thus allowing of its easyadjustment up or down.

The upper half, M, of springing or forming block M is provided upon itsunder side with a beveled slot, m, extending from one side of said blockto the other, into which a correspondingly beveled shaped piece, 12,fits, the under side of the latter being made circling to correspond tothe shape of the bottom of aforesaid block M.

Each end of beveled piece a is provided with an upwardly-projectingslotted flange, o 0, by means of which said piece is suspended uponscrews 1) p to block M, and allowed to move up and down on screws 11 pby means of slots q q.

A strong pressure is produced upon the upper side of beveled piece 11,in this instance by means of a block of rubber, 1', which is looselyfitted in a hole or opening, 8, in block M, over the center of beveledpiece 12.

Instead of rubber being used, as in this instance, for pressing downbeveled piece n, a strong spiral or other spring may be employed, ifdesired, for that purpose.

By the above-described arrangement a very strong and even pressure isproduced upon the center of the sole of the boot or shoe, to hold thelatter in position, and by obtaining such holding-pressure only at thecenter of the sole, the rest of said sole is allowed to yield to thepressure of the ends of block M in springing or forming the bend in theshank tand forward part or toe u of said sole.

Beveled piece it not only holds the sole securely at the center 1;, asaforesaid, but at the same time, by being curved upon its under side, asbefore explained, springs or bends the same at that point. Then again,said beveled piece it coming in contact with the sole at its centerbefore the front and rear of the upper half, M, of the forming-block Mdoes, it prevents the center of the sole from hufiing up when caught bythe two ends of said block M, as aforesaid.

Trepreseuts the swinging heel-support, upon which the boot or shoe isplaced before inserting the foot of the same between the upper and lowerhalves, M andS, of formin g orspringin g block M. Upon the upper end ofsaid swinging support T is secured a detachable heel-block, U, being somade detachable by means of a loosely-fitting dowel and pin, y.

The heel-block is curved upon its upper side, as represented at z, forthe purpose of allowing the shank t to be sprung down, as represented inFig. 2.

Different sizes and heights of heel-blocks may be employed, such asshown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, the length of the heel-support T beingthereby varied in length so as to hold the heel of the boot or shoe atthe proper height to be operated upon by the forming-blocks M and S, asbefore explained or, if preferred the heelsupport T may be made so itcan be lengthened and shortened withoutremovin g or changing theheel-support U.

The operation of springing the sole of a boot may be briefly summed upthus: The leg of the boot is first placed over swinging support T, withthe inside of the heel resting upon the upper point,z, of heel-block U,when the swiugin g support T, with the boot upon it, is then swungforward so as to bring the boot into the position shown by full anddotted lines, Fig. 2, with the vamp or top of the foot in slot S, andthe outer sides of the sole, near the center, bearin g upon the top S ofthe lower half, S, of forming-block M, when the driving-power is thenapplied to the machine, and the upper half, M, of the forming-block M isforced down by means of the mechanism before described upon the bottomor sole of the boot, thereby pressing it down upon the lower half, S, ofthe forming-block M, (the upper surface of which is curved, as beforestated, to correspond to the curve of the under side of the upper half,M, of forming-block M,) thus giving to it its proper shape to enable theboot or shoe to be worn with ease and comparative comfort while new.

Those skilled in the art to which our invention belongs will readilyperceive and understand from the foregoing description the practicalvalue and importance of our said invention, and will notice the markedand substantial difference between the construction and mode ofoperation of our said machine and the construction and mode of operationof those machines previously devised and made for shaping the soles ofboots and shoes after their attachment to the uppers, while the wearersof boots and shoes which have been sprung or formed by our invention,.as hereinbefore described, will also appreciate the importance of theinvention in apractical point of view.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. The combination, with sliding carriage L and hinged boot-support T,of the parts M and S, said parts being constructed and relativelyarranged for joint operation, substantially as shown and described, andfor the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with the former M, consisting of the parts M and S,of the foot-support T and the beveled yielding piece n, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

JOSEPH H. WALKER. JOHN MGIN TYRE.

Witnesses:

THOS. H. DODGE, EDWIN E. MOORE.

